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The out actor opened up about the first time he locked lips with a guy: “I was levitating.”
Today Johnathan Groff is out and proud, and killing it in Hollywood, but that wasn’t always the case for the Frozen and Hamilton star, who recalled the first time, then closeted, he kissed a guy.
Speaking with Jan Svendsen on a new episode of the Broadway Gives Back podcast, Groff recalled how a kiss that would change his life forever came about. At the time he was 19 years old and working as a waiter at the Chelsea Grill in Hell’s Kitchen when he met Tom Viola the executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Viola told Groff all about the work his organization does, and how they have volunteers collecting money with red buckets outside of Broadway theaters.
Groff was excited to get involved not only because of the good work but because volunteers also recieved a very enticing perk. “You could watch the second act of Broadway shows by signing up as a volunteer. So the volunteering aspect of the organization, plus the fact that I could see theater got me super interested,” he recalled.
It was a day that was fateful in more ways than one, said Groff who said just hours beforehand he had had his first same-sex kiss.
“I had my first kiss with this guy that I had a crush on from my hometown, who ended up being my, quote-unquote, roommate because I wasn’t out of the closet for three and a half years,” shared Groff. “He had come over to the apartment I was living in, and that happened. And then I was like, ‘I have to go. I have to go meet Tom Viola.’ I remember walking in and meeting him and feeling like my entire body was on fire. I was like levitating through the offices of BC/EFA.”
We stand a relatable queen.
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Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
